This invention relates to machine tools and provides means by which heavy vises are moved into and out of working position secured to a work table of a milling machine or the like. It is very difficult and awkward to move heavy vises (80 lbs. to 140 lbs.) into and out of working position on milling machines, drill presses, and the like. The well equiped machine shop may or may not have an overhead crane, chain-fall or hoist, and these facilities are often ineffectively placed and/or not accessible to the particular machine tool involved. Reference is made to my U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,135 entitled Work Transport For Machine Tools issued Jun. 13, 1989. Apparatus such as cranes, chain-falls and hoists are slow to operate and do not always expedite the handling of heavy vises, and time is of the essence! For the machinist to manually transport heavy vices is often out of the question and not permitted, as injury is most likely. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a vise transport for milling machines that carries heavy vises into and out of working position on the milling machine table where machining processes are to be performed.
Milling machines are characterized by a shiftable work table on which a vise is mounted to carry the work pieces that are to be machined, or a fixture to secure the workpiece for machining. In a milling machine the workpiece is normally secured to the work table by a vise, and with a cutting tool, bit or cutter turned by a spindle on various axes. Drill presses and other similar machine tools have equivalent features, with respect to the workpiece being placed therein as hereinafter described. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a vise support for universal application to machine tools of the type under consideration, a support for moving heavy vises into and out of working position, all as circumstances require.
Difficulty is encountered when a machinist must manually transport a heavy vise over the bed or table of a milling machine and into working position. In a millimg machine it is the spindle axis that must be reached, and the equivalent in other such machine tools. The physical posture of the machinist in cantilevering a heavy vise is unatural, and destructive to his physical well being. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention the provide apparatus that receives or delivers vises alongside the milling machine, and that delivers or receives vises from the work table, as the case may be. With this invention, the physical posture of the machinist is erect and it is no longer necessary for him to contilever the vise weight from this natural standing posture. That is, the vise is loaded, or removed, by the machinist into the vise transport means, outside of the awkward confines of the machine tool, from which position the vise is transported to and from the work process position.
The removal from and especially the installation of a vise on a milling machine work table requires accurate positioning and thorough cleanliness. That is, it is imperative that all surfaces be clean and previous debris, chips, removed, especially with respect to the bottom of the vise. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to universally support the vise on this transport apparatus, so that its bottom features are readily accessible for cleaning. This enables flatness and results in precision mill work. In practice, the vise is supported for transport to and from the milling table and is simultaneously supported for rotation on both vertical and horizontal axes. Consequently, the condition of the vice can be determined by direct observation, heretofore practically impossible.
The present invention is to be distinguished from cranes and hoists and the like, which lift from above, and is characterized by an undercarriage type of support that extends into and retracts from the vise position in the machine tool. To these ends it is an object of this invention to provide articulation means for the lateral transport of vices into and out of working position in the milling machine or like machine tools. With the present invention there are inner and outer arms, and the radius of at least one of which involves right-left radius adjustment means. In practice, the right-left radius adjustment means is an adjustable link disposed between the inner and outer arms, so that the work transport can be adapted to either side of the milling machine. The entire apparatus is installed upon a milling machine by means of opposed adapter blocks attached to the vertical ways of the milling machine.